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Bangladesh Army will take action against its former chief General Aziz Ahmed even though he is in retirement, Finance Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali has said.
He made the comment while talking to reporters at the Secretariat on Sunday noon.
At the time, the finance minister was actually talking about potential measures against loan defaulters and the matter of the army chief contextually came up.
As he paused, saying, “Now we have to catch the loan defaulters,” he was asked if he could do it given the defaulters’ power. The finance minister replied: "Let's see if I can. You can see action being taken against the former police chief (Benazir Ahmed). Wasn't he powerful?"
He noted that the government supports the court's actions against Benazir.
On Monday midnight, the United States imposed sanctions on former army chief Gen Aziz due to allegations of corruption, declaring him and his family members ineligible for entry into the country.
When journalists mentioned this, the finance minister said, "The former army chief has also been caught. Although the US imposed sanctions on him, it has come to public notice."
Then, when journalists pointed out that the government has not taken any action against the former army chief, the finance minister said that while the government hasn't done anything, the army will.
When reminded that Gen Aziz is no longer in the army, the finance minister said that the army can still take action after retirement.